When thinking of an article subject, do you ever (First) search HubPages to see

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   Rochelle Frankposted 9 years ago

   When thinking of an article subject, do you ever (First) search HubPages to see if it has been done?
   
   Or do you just plunge in with your personal brilliant idea?
   If there re already hubs on the same subject, does it change your mind about writing it?
   If you do peek at others, does it change your focus?

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   Jodahposted 9 years ago

   I usually don't look for others on the subject until after I have written the first draft so I am not influenced by them. Then I look to see if there are any and check to see if I am duplicating too much of their information or am approaching it from a totally different angle. I may change a few things or decide not to publish if it is too similar.

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      Rochelle Frankposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That sound sensible. I don't think to check other hubs until I see the "related" list.  I think if I looked before starting, I might be discouraged. I once had a writer friend of mine say "you think of the oddest things", so maybe that is good .

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   Sparrowletposted 9 years ago

   I do not look first! I try to come up with an interesting angle on topics that will hopefully not be covered. But I too would be discouraged if I checked first, since just about every topic you can think of has been done before! I think John's idea of writing a first draft and then checking is a good one, sort of a middle ground. Then, if yours is too similar, you can adjust it to be something fresh and different.

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   WordCrafter09posted 9 years ago

   My approach to what I write on here has never been to check to see what else is on here.  This isn't a site that I've ever approached as anything other than a place to do casual writing in my free time.
   
   In the past I would sometimes be inspired to write a Hub after reading someone else's Hub and having a kind of opposing view, but that was in the days when I would go looking for stuff to read on here.  I haven't done the "go looking thing" since (even though Google, itself, says it doesn't want people writing for search engines and does want them writing for readers/users) people who once wrote for any readers were pretty much discouraged from writing Hubs that aren't aimed at being found in search.
   
   Whether it's on here on one of my free-time blogs, I pretty much cringe at "weird" type/mix of stuff I've built up over the years.  If I hadn't put so much time into writing I'd just delete everything and either start over or not at all.
   
   BUT, some stuff has a shred of one kind of redeeming value, or at least use, or another (for or to me).  So, while I'm constantly cringing at my own stuff it's either not time to delete it from view of anyone or else it is my reminder that I make reasonably good use of any free time I have.
   
   Either way, and all that said, I'm an efficient person who condenses my time and efforts down to one main focus, and for my writing purposes here that focus has always been just on writing ("bright idea", dumb idea, weird idea, or whatever else).
   
   I've never been someone who looks around to see what others around me are doing before I do something.  It's up to any publishers/publishing site (like the late Associated Content that paid writers up-front for some stuff) to know what's already on the publication/site.  HP has never had that.  Maybe they now will with the niche sites.
   
   The only place I might look before writing a Hub would be to a "serious" research resource for anything newer than what was out there when I was reading/looking up stuff years ago.  I can see how "contamination" would/could happen (which, on the other end of things, could explain the appearance of someone else's Hub/article looking like a search-engine-polished version (for the purpose of competition) of something I wrote.
   
   (There may be something to be said for super-cringe-worthy/hard-to-polish-up) lack of formality/professionalism, maybe?    )  (Yes, that is Internet-writing fatigue one may be detecting here.)

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      annartposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It's great to write for writing's sake and for practice - I agree with most of what you say here.

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   Venkatachari Mposted 9 years ago

   I never search on hubpages to see whether my topic is already existing there. I simply jump to creating my hub and may search for some more information and keywords on the net, but not at hubpages.

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   tamarawilhiteposted 9 years ago

   I check Google for competition of the topic or look for article ideas Hubpages has or answer questions others ask on Hubpages.

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   roobposted 9 years ago

   Well I am new here but I don't believe you can copy another title so as long as my title is not the same I go ahead and make mine. I have read some hubs that I thought were lacking and I think someone should defiantly be able to write another, possibly better one.
   
   How about you Rochelle, do you?

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      Rochelle Frankposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      No, but once  it is published I sometimes read the hubs listed as "related".As far as copying titles, maybe you can but I would  try not to. urls, however, must be unique.

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   annartposted 9 years ago

   Good question.  I don't look before I write but I do check when I've finished to see if there's another similar, then I might tweak mine to emphasise a new angle.  I've never scratched a hub though!
   Great question!

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   Jackie Lynnleyposted 9 years ago

   I do check HubPages before doing a hub because if the subject has been covered good I would not want to do more. If there are hubs on the subject but it doesn't look to have been covered well, as in the case of my recent Alzheimer's hub, I don't worry about writing more. I want to get out there what I think people need to know.

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      Sparrowletposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good method, Jackie.

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    ladyhowto4uposted 9 years ago

    I do not check to see if a subject has been covered on HubPages.  I've recently returned to writing at HubPages and have been revising and updating my hubs. However, when I start writing new hubs, I will simply write about what I like without checking to see if it has already been written about.  In my opinion, if the topic has already been covered, it's possible the author wrote from a different viewpoint or had a different opinion.  Therefore, even though the topic is similar, there will be differences -- even if the difference is in writing styles.  Thanks for your question.

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    bbanks27posted 8 years ago

    Yes, I do. The main reason why is because I feel like I don't to accidently copy someone's hub. I also want to make sure what titles are available to use for the topic I'm writing about

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